Another bone chilling polar plunge is coming for much of the Midwest and Northeast by Tuesday and along with painfully low temperatures will come some of the heaviest snow in years for some areas.

Millions of people from Washington, DC to Long Island can expect to get out their snow shovels and heaviest winter wardrobes tomorrow as precipitation and wind chills well below zero move from the nation's interior out towards the East Coast and the nation's capital, where residents can expect what could be the most snow since an historic blizzard hit in January 2011.

Light snow was already falling Monday afternoon across much of the Great Lakes and down through the Ohio River Valley, but the real headaches and potential dangers will come by evening as residents in Minnesota will experience -20F temperatures and it won't get much higher than the teens south to Virginia, through the Northeast and into New England by Tuesday.

Just the start: Monday night's bitter chills in the northern plains region were expected to be as low as -31 in parts of Minnesota and the weather pattern that makes such temperature possible was expected to move east over New England and Mid-Atlantic

A drop in temperatures is expected on Tuesday night as another polar plunge hits the nation

The Midwest, Southeast and Northeast can expect another treacherous few days of uncomfortably low temperatures

'The cold may be intense enough to cause school closings, frozen pipes and water main breaks,' according to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. 'Heating systems may struggle to keep up, people will spend more money keeping their homes and businesses warm and ice will again build up on area rivers.'

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Highs will generally range from the teens to lower 20s, and the cold spell could extend as far south as the Gulf states such as Florida, which saw the lowest temperatures of the year so far on Sunday.

The snow is expected to intensify as it moves past the Appalachians beginning Tuesday and mountainous areas in the region can expect an accumulation of 6 inches or so.

But it's areas to the north and east that can expect to bear the brunt of the storm.

Meteorologists said on Monday that snowfall in the capital had the potential to outdo the winter storm of January 2011, when five inches fell

Intensifying: From Virginia to New England, residents were told Monday to expect the snow already dusting the Midwest to intensify as the fast-moving storm moved across the Appalachians in hit the moist Atlantic coast through Tuesday

'Even though the storm is coming during the day Tuesday, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Roanoke and Richmond, Virginia, Dover, Delaware, Philadelphia, New York City, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, will have enough snow to shovel and plow,' Accuweather's Brian Wimer said.

The southern extent of the precipitation can expect to see the most accumulation.

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'For Washington, D.C.,' said Wimer, 'this could be the biggest storm since Jan. 26, 2011, when about 5 inches of snow fell.'

Lows are expected to remain in the subzero range on Tuesday night. While New England could see highs of about 20 on Wednesday, the upper Midwest probably won't see temperatures above the teens.

While the winter blast is expected to
be gone by Thursday, meteorologists predict it'll be followed by
another blast of cold air pushing down from Canada on Friday or Saturday.

Snow
is possible as far south as Greenville, South Carolina and Reliegh,
North Carolina on Tuesday as the extent of the precipitation hits its
peak into the afternoon and later.

These areas can expect up to an inch of snow by evening.

To
the Southwest of the arctic chills, Americans in California and
adjoining regions can expect continued problems from the historic
drought already plaguing the region.

Life will get slightly better as temperatures rise on Wednesday during the day and the arctic plunge begins to rise back toward Canada

Lingering: Wednesday night won't be a whole lot warmer than the previous two nights, unfortunately

Third time's the charm? The polar chill will start to ease up by Wednesday, when temperatures in much of the Midwest and East were expected to be closer closer to normal. However, a third bitter arctic blast of the season was expected by the weekend

Overall, temperatures Thursday will be warmer than the previous few days, however a return of the dreaded polar plunge is expected by weekend

The state is in a period of extended dry weather compounded in Southern California by repeated periods of the regional Santa Anas, dry and powerful winds that blow from the interior toward the coast, pushing back the normal flow of moist ocean air and raising temperatures to summerlike levels.

The dry conditions statewide led Gov.
Jerry Brown to formally declare a drought Friday in order to seek a
range of federal assistance.

The
statewide water content was about 20 percent of average for this time
of year. The snow water equivalent on Thursday was just 17 percent of
normal for the day. Satellite photos taken this week of the Sierra
Nevada snowpack - an important source of water come spring - shows a
skinny snake of white in a stark brown landscape. On the same day last
year, the region was a fluffy, swirling blanket of white.

Elsewhere: While spared from the bitter winter chills, the Southwest and much of California remained in the midst of one of the worst droughts in history. Here, Leon Stout, of Orland shows the area that was once Black Butte Lake

Comparison: Satellite images from over California in 2013 (left) and 2014 (right) show the lack of snowfall and parched land of this year's drought-plagued winter versus last year's

Paired with record heat, the conditions have also helped lead to a ring of fierce wildfires around Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the fire was 78 percent contained by Sunday, with full containment expected Wednesday.

The California Conference of Catholic Bishops asked people of all faiths to join in prayers for rain. Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto, president of the bishops' conference, suggested a prayer for God to 'open the heavens and let His mercy rain down upon our fields and mountains.'

He suggested prayers for relief and for the wellbeing of those most at risk from a water shortage. Mosques in the Central Valley also prayed for rain earlier this month.